MBB | Voyageurs Stumble Versus Gaels

The Laurentian Voyageurs Men's basketball team started off the regular season with a tough 92-51 defeat to the Queen's Gaels in Kingston.

Straight from the opening tipoff the Gaels came out with a quick tempo and dominated the paint, scoring 23 points, nearly all of which came from inside 10 feet of the basket. This made life difficult for the Voyageurs to get any real sense of momentum and were stuck at just 3 total points for the majority of this first quarter.

It was in the second quarter and beyond however is where Queen's really took control of the game. By the end of the second quarter they had extended their lead to 21 points and had out-rebounded Laurentian 12-2 in the second quarter, further solidifying their control under the basket. Their defense was also airtight and the Voyageurs found it very tough to get any sort of rhythm going, shooting just 1-9 from three in the half along with an overall shooting percentage of just 34% after 2 quarters.

With the second half getting underway it was more of the same from the Gaels in their home opener, keeping up a high intensity and holding whatever Laurentian threw at them at arm's length. The major story of the second half was the 11 turnovers committed by the Vees, which continued to keep momentum in the home team's favour. This, coupled with the continuing struggles to get a string of stops on defense, meant that Queen's would go on to win 92-51 and would hold the Voyageurs to an overall field goal percentage at 30% for the game.  Coban Scott led the way for the Voyageurs with 11 points.

Laurentian gets a second bite at the cherry this weekend when they face off against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks in Oshawa on Friday where they will try to end the road trip on a high.

Andrew Lemieux